Air Europa, the launch customer of the A350 in the first version offered to the airlines, appears to be in talks with Boeing over the 787. Air europa firmed up this order for 10 A350's in 2005. According to the article neither Boeing nor Air Europa wanted to comment on the reports.

This may be a case the where the A350 design evolved into something that no longer fit the customer's requirements. It will also be interesting to see whether a potential and/or existing customer publicly rejects the "composite panel" design approach.

Quoting Leelaw (Reply 1):This may be a case the where the A350 design evolved into something that no longer fit the customer's requirements. It will also be interesting to see whether a potential and/or existing customer publicly rejects the "composite panel" design approach.

"MADRID (AFP) - US aircraft maker Boeing is in talks to persuade Spanish airline Air Europa to buy the Boeing 787 jet and abandon the rival A350 plane by Airbus, the head of Boeing Spain said, according to Spanish press reports. "

Maybe it's all part of the negotiating process by Europa -

To B "Tell us what deal you'll do us B"

To A "B are going to give us this to cancel - what your thoughts about that then?"

It may be that since the 350XWB has grown in size to compete more with the T7 that the a/c may have grown out of Air Europa's needs. It may be that they are looking for something more along the lines of 788 or 783?

Hey, it's a cat-eat-cat world out there; what do you expect Boeing to do, play tiddlywinks? They'll go after all of the A350 customers, but as mentioned above, they aren't in a position to offer super deals or early deliveries. The airlines need to keep the focus on what will suit their needs the best.

The problem with making things foolproof is that fools are so doggone ingenious...Dan Keebler

"The head of Boeing's Spanish operations, Pedro Arguelles, said the A350 will come into service five years after the B787 without adding any technological advantage, and that Boeing plans to make the most of any opportunities left open by the competition."

When he puts in that way, he has a point. Can he make it stick, however?

This is very good news for Boeing... UX cannot wait till 2013-2014 and its nice to see Spanish Airlines going Boeing. I found too political the fact Spanish airlines have always preferred to chose the A340 over the 777 .

A man without the knowledge of his past history,culture and origins is like a tree without roots

Quoting DfwRevolution (Reply 6):It won't work like that. Demand for the 787 currently exceeds production capability, so why would Boeing cut into their yields to secure what isn't even a major blue-chip customer?

Interestingly enough, your comment cements exactly what I thought Boeing's attitude has been like for the late 1990s and early 2000s.

"If it's not a blue chip customer, we don't want you" / "If you're not a blue chip customer, we're not going to treat you as well".

What is shown by the 787 programme is that Boeing is happy to take any customer, no matter how small - and they have reaped the benefits by doing so. The 787 order book has most of the world well represented - from Australia to the USA to Europe to the Indian Subcontinent, to Asia, to Africa.

Therefore, it wouldn't surprise me at all for Boeing to be chasing Air Europa.

Quoting ClassicLover (Reply 14):Interestingly enough, your comment cements exactly what I thought Boeing's attitude has been like for the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Then you thought wrong. Boeing's trouble in the 90s was as much product strategy as it was sales strategy. For example, not having an effective A332 competitor was not the fault of the sales team. Not introducing the 737NG until nearly a decade after the A320 was not the fault of the sales team.

Boeing's sales team through the 90s did an amazing job leveraging top dollar for products like the 777. Boeing made an absolute killing because they had the best product, and airlines knew it. What hurt Boeing was not knowing which customers to pursue more diligently than others. However, virtually all of these examples (U2, AB, B6) regard the narrow-body market.

Boeing is now in a simmilar position in 2007 (with the 787) as they were in 1997 (with the 777). Airlines are still going to buy airplanes, and if they don't have (much) choice, it's a sellers market.

Quoting ClassicLover (Reply 14):"If it's not a blue chip customer, we don't want you" / "If you're not a blue chip customer, we're not going to treat you as well".

Now you're just being ridiculous. Of course Boeing values its customers, but not all customers are created equal. That's just business.

Quoting ClassicLover (Reply 14):Therefore, it wouldn't surprise me at all for Boeing to be chasing Air Europa.

Nor would I, but Air Europa will not be an airline that will walk away with the deal of a century. If they go with the 787, it will have more to do with the derailment of the A350 than whatever deal Boeing offers.

Quoting DfwRevolution (Reply 13):
Boeing is now in a simmilar position in 2007 (with the 787) as they were in 1997 (with the 777). Airlines are still going to buy airplanes, and if they don't have (much) choice, it's a sellers market.

Not quite. In 1997 the dollar was to begin an ascent spurred by the Asian financial crisis and US asset boom that would eventually lead to it increasing against European currencies. Today, Boeing is not likely to see that disadvantage return.

And I think, Air Europa, like Qatar were one of the airlines that had early refundable slots for 788s and went with the A350 instead.
This is no surprise. The 358 will be the 2nd model to EIS and won't be available until 2014+. The 358 looks to be the least capable of the 3 XWB models, with the sweet spot looking to be more around the -900. Probably the best they can hope from Boeing now is 2012 788 slots. That would get them 787s around 2 years earlier than A350s, so it might just be worth considering. Additionally, unlike other Iberian peninsula airlines, Air Europa has a large 737NG fleet, so they have no "fear" of ordering Boeing products.

I think it's a logical step... Air Europa operates a fleet of 763ERs and I the revamped A358 is an overkill for their needs. the 788 gives them that slight capacity growth and still be a less of a gamble. Not to mention the availability, who knows when the A350s will start entering service, the date is still only an Airbus target date, and we all know what that could mean

However the only way I could see them getting 787s much earlier is thru a lessor...

Quoting RootsAir (Reply 10):This is very good news for Boeing... UX cannot wait till 2013-2014 and its nice to see Spanish Airlines going Boeing. I found too political the fact Spanish airlines have always preferred to chose the A340 over the 777 .

if IIRC, UX was an All Boeing when they ordered the A350.
In Fleet they show that their fleet is: